I recently hung a display of drawings from this website at the Eastmont Library in Oakland. Even though he had a newspaper open on his lap, it seemed that the primary reason this man was at the library was to watch the flow of people in and out of the front door.
Ajuan Mance
…the sleepy looking guy sitting along the windows at World Ground Cafe, Jack London Square, Oakland, CA.
Ajuan Mance
…One more drawing from my pre-Halloween costume shopping expedition.
If he hadn’t been surrounded by a number of people who actually looked their age, I never would have known that this kid was in high school. This kid was taller and thicker than most guys his age (and most guys twice his age, for that matter). Surrounded by his peers, though, he certainly acted his age, even if he didn’t look it. He and his friends were laughing and talking loudly about each other and about everything around them. Their carefully deployed laughs and giggles, eye rolls, and gestures (the hair pushed out of the eye, the adjustment and readjustment of the hat or other head wear, the hitching up of the over-sized pants) were carefully and self-consciously deployed in the way that only teenagers can. They were having a great time. They were dressed for a Halloween party, with an assortment of funny hats, cat ears, and masks either on or in-hand. The young guy in this picture was dressed as a football player. His costume, I believe, was the only one that reflected real life–certainly more so than the African American girl with the tiger ears and the Asian American kid with the Obama mask.
Ajuan Mance
The Lobby of the New Conservatory Theater Center
Drawing #400 is finally here!! I’ve felt really productive this last couple weeks. Can I make it to 500 by the end of this year??!!?? I have some many more drawings to share. My people watching gaze has been in full effect, and the Black men I have seen and drawn continue to reflect my changing understanding of African American subjectivity and the ways that my own biases and sensibilities shape what I see.
Stay tuned.
Ajuan Mance
The corner of Piedmont @ Linda Ave, outside the movie theater.
There something I just love about the dress-shirt-and-tie-with-contrasting-collar look.
Ajuan Mance
No, this is not really the view from that bench near my favorite Roberts Regional Park picnic area. I’m taking a little artistic license here. There really shouldn’t be any buildings and they should be facing toward–not away from–the view…but I just like incorporating the Oakland skyline whenever I can.
I actually did this drawing in late August, when it was still short sleeves weather on some days. These two guys were sitting on the bench a short walk away from the site where we held our 2011 family reunion picnic. They were watching an older Black woman who was holding the hand of a small child. I couldn’t figure out the exact relationships here. Perhaps these two were siblings hanging out with their mom and one of her grand kids. I kind of wanted them to get up and leave so that I could sit down, enjoy the view, and relive some of my own pleasant family moments; but I was also happy to be a fly on the wall for someone else’s get together. There can never be too much family love, and it’s always good to see it. Anyway, I can always come back another time, maybe on a rainy day when its almost guaranteed to be quiet and empty.
Ajuan Mance
Outside the Laurel Bookstore, MacAthur Blvd, Oakland, CA.
Ajuan Mance
Sometimes you can’t help but notice the quietest person in the room. On Thursday nights, the Monkey King Pub and Grub is pretty lively. two of the extra long tables were full as were most of the smaller tables, and a party mood was in the air. At one of the long tables, though, despite the fact that the other seven people seated there were laughing and talking very loudly, this one guy, seated against the wall, was absolutely silent. His mouth was slightly open, almost as though he was about to speak, but he said nothing. He wasn’t really looking at anyone either, and so I’m exactly sure who he wasn’t talking to. It was clear, though, that he was completely disengaged from the other people in his group.
Ajuan Mance
PS: The wallpaper was not really flowery, but I really like the way the flowery background looks in this drawing.
Ajuan
Fountain Garden Restaurant, MacArthur Blvd, Oakland.
I love faces with features that refuse to be ignored. I begin all of my drawings with the nose and then work down to the lips. The eyes, hair and other features come last. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the features I enjoy drawing most are among those for which Black people have been made to feel the most ashamed. The goal and even the duty of the artist is to step away from what we are told to see in (and believe about) our subjects and to draw what is truly there. And it is in Black people’s facial features–the features in which our African ancestry is most apparent–that I see the greatest expression and power and meaning.
Ajuan Mance
